In response to the Goblin subjugation quest, I had waited at the park for about an hour. A scream burst out from the street and 20 goblins appeared at the park entrance, surrounding the policeman and the middle-aged man.
“It says there’s only 10!? no, it says subjugate 10.. so I guess it’s normal to have more than 10.”
I muttered while standing still either because of surprise or because of not sure what I should do.
But getting hammered by the policeman flashlight, my eyes quickly observed the Goblins. 2 rusted long swords and 3 similar daggers, the rest had clubs.
I had no idea why I decided to count their numbers and analyze their weapons. But I had bigger things to worry about. I had black jeans, white sneakers, a leather belt, a dull gray T-shirt and black hoodie. There was nothing I could use to fight it with, but I wasn’t about to try. I just wanted to see what a real goblin would look like.
I was about to run away, until I heard a scream of “S-stay wherever you are and raise your hand to the air!” from over to my left. I turned to look at the policeman and saw he already pointed his gun. He had somehow gotten surrounded. His eyes caught mine and he yelled to me, “R-run kid!” There was something weird about the way he said it, like he was wanted to run but he couldn’t do it.
I hesitated, and when I did, one of the goblins lunged toward him, moving surprisingly fast.
At the same time, I started running. Not toward him but to other way around, only stopped when I could hear something blunt had just hitting something. I turned around and could see that he already lying on the ground, his head was bleeding.
“Er... right, where it is.”
I had no weapon to speak of and I had only managed an orange belt in middle school taekwondo, which was what they handed out to basically anyone who stuck with it a few weeks. But with shaky fingers, I opened Guild App, sliding my thumbs to the spell known.
“O mana string in the air, transform into a shield and protect the one that stand before mine eyes. Magic Shield!”
God that was embarrassing.
But it really surprised me when somehow the goblin’s club got stopped on mid-air and bounced back, as if it just hit a brick wall.
“Giii!!”
A Goblin with a sword shouted something and pointing his swords toward me. At the same time my heartbeat was starting to beat faster. The goblins that were surrounding both of the policeman and the middle aged man now rushing toward me.
“Why me?! Wait, wait. Er, right.”
Just when I chanted the freshly memorized line, more words appeared in front of me. I looked at them more closely this time, though I didn’t stop chanting. The words at this time really felt like your annoying flashy pop-up ad and didn’t make me feel too good.
[New status condition: Fear! (-1 to all stats.)]
“M-magic shield!!”
Damn. The penalty was insane. But it was true. I could run away just fine before, but the moment the goblins were charging at me, my legs suddenly grew weaker. No... more like I lost my will to run away.
Hiding behind transparent blue shield,!I looked at the park and tried to steel myself. If things gone wrong, maybe there would be a weapon around here, or something I could use as one. The bad news was that it was almost exactly as I had feared. This was a playground park for children. There was no way there would be an object that I could use as weapon or at least I didn’t have time to search for one.
Another goblin at the back hurled a stone. Hitting the transparent blue wall. The loud dull sound was created as my shield repelled the stone. In my mind, I just knew this shield only had 6 durability left.
Another stone. The durability dropped to 5.
“Giiii!!”
Realizing the magic shield, the Goblins divided into two groups, each was being led by long sword goblin and they moved in such messy and yet coordinated manner. Before I knew it, they already circled me.
“Goblin shouldn’t be smart!!!”
With a shout, the feeling for at least knowing there was something to protect me. Those feeling was enough to make me at the very least moving my legs.
I decided to just run away, running at full sprint without even trying to converse my energy. Heading to two goblins that stayed in the front, each brought their wooden club and were positioned in such a manner to block my path.
I might have tried to fight the goblin if they were alone and didn’t bring any weapon. But for now I closed my eyes as my heart hammered away in my chest. As deaths went, at least it would be fast. I kept my eyes screwed shut, right up until the point where I realized I just forcefully charged past two goblins. When I looked around, I saw that death wasn't quite so imminent as I had thought. I already broke the goblins encirclement and the two goblins that tried to block my path were now laying on the ground, cradling their head in pain.
“...Don’t tell me...”
I would admit that I never tried what happened if I either punched or ran at a full power. But maybe... just maybe... I was stronger than I look? Or the goblin was weaker than your typical adult?
For the former, I didn’t know. My body indeed was became lighter the moment I had Athletic... so that might be the case. But if I had to say, the growth or the power up was so insignificant
For the latter... now that I thought about this. There were twenty of them and that middle-aged man was still alive. So they might didn’t have that much power? Or maybe I became slightly stronger and the goblins were weak?
Maybe... I should try to fight them.
Gulping my nervousness down, I moves my thumb and spent my last remaining point to POW, raising it to 5, at the same time my PHY rose to 7.
The first two goblins were now standing on their feet, before they looked at me as if I was a prey but now they charged toward me with hatred on their eyes.
[Skill increased: Sense Motive Lvl 2.]
I blinked away the message as I brought my right foot down on the goblin A. My kick hit the right in the face, with my weight entirely behind it. I heard a crack of the skull splitting.
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[Critical Hit]
[Skill unlocked: Unarmed Combat.]
If there had been any justice in the world, that would have been when it stopped moving. The life on its eyes would have faded like at the end of Terminator, and it would have slumped back down onto the floor. Instead, it continued to lurch toward me, slamming his wooden club. The only thing that saved me from getting hit, (since my blocking someone punch was an impossible task for me) was my Magic Shield, which now dropped to 3. When I brought up a foot to once again kick goblin A backward, this time on its stomach. A hard crackling sound and copious amounts of dark red blood came from its mouth, while goblin A tumbled backward and fell into its knee (The smell hit me in a wave and made me want to puke, but I just barely managed to force a lump of something back down my throat.) It was back on its feet surprisingly fast though, and stared at me with his glowing red eyes,seemingly tried to catch its breath.
[Skill increased: Unarmed Combat Lvl 1!]
That was good to know, but this goblin was a tough one, wasn’t it? All the comics and light novels I’d seen had been clear that they were weak creature. But if this wasn’t when this guy was going to die and what was I supposed to do?
And unlike Goblin A, before I had the time to breathe, goblin B already slammed his club at my shield and this time its club shattered my shield.
Goos, so every goblins also have different strength?
I backed away from Goblin B as it dashed forward. I wanted to cast another Magic Shield but goddamnit, my brain couldn’t remember the incantation. A quick glance at Goblin B’s back showed that the rest of the goblins already charging forward, though not so close that I couldn’t make a run for it... maybe.
I holding tight my phone and increased my POW to 10, at the same time PHY increased to 9. I wasn’t dumb enough to think that I would forget I could increase my stats any time I wanted to.
Still taking care all these goblins on was completely out of question, but if it came to it I needed to know what it took to kill one.
My heart was beating like crazy in my chest, but I steeled myself. This time, I aimed my kick at Goblin B’s face, and I was just in time because it lunged at me a split second later, spearing itself straight through the face.
[Critical Hit]
Unlike Goblin A, Goblin B stopped moving almost instantly and fell to the ground. That was when its red eyes finally faded to a milky white.
[Skill increased: Unarmed Combat lvl 2!]
[1/10 goblins defeated!]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Blood]
[Level up! Your Level is now 1!]
That last message came with a sensation that I could only describe as orgasm. It was like someone had jabbed a live wire directly into the pleasure center of my brain. It was over in less than a second and left me trembling afterward.
“But what happened if I leveled up?!” I asked the empty air. Of course the sensation was all in my head and nothing really happened.
I picked the wooden club out of Goblin B’s hand just before I noticed the Goblin B’s body was crackling, before it exploded to dust and its loin cloth were blown away.
I wanted to look into my phone and raising whatever I could raise, but there was no time for that.
The goblins had gotten worryingly close. I gripped my club and prepared myself.
Somehow though, I didn’t afraid that much anymore.
Indeed they were fast, but their reach was very short, short enough that my feet alone could out-reach them. So the trick was that I would only need to keep them at a feet distance while trying to kill them, but it wasn’t without its risks as some goblins could throw rocks and the long-sword goblins clearly had the same reach as me.
While keeping that in mind, I lined up my strike and swung the club for the goblin’s head. This time, I had enough power to kill it with one strike, not bad if I had to say. Just like Goblin B, it exploded into dust.
[Skill unlocked: Two-Handed Weapon!]
[2/10 goblins defeated]
Goblin A lurched forward right as I did that attack, and I ended up kicking it in the shoulder instead. To my surprise, Goblin A exploded. I had to push several goblins away from me in order to prevent them from getting their hands on me. I smashed at the goblin again, this time striking it in the collar bone. The crack of bone made me wince, but I reared back for another swing.
[Skill increased: One-Handed Weapon Lvl 1]
Just like the skill name, seemed like depending on how I grabbed the weapon, it could be either one handed or two. And also some of the goblins could take two or more hit and some could only take one.
[4/10 goblins defeated]
The notification somehow blocked my view for just long enough that one of the goblins moving in. Surprisingly, this time I managed to react and step backwards out of the way of its reach.
[Skill unlocked: Acrobatic!]
I wouldn’t say that one was an acrobatic move, but whatever. I swung at the goblin that just attacked me, hitting it in the temple this time—
[Skill increased: Two-Handed Weapon Lvl 1]
The other goblins were getting closer, so I attacked again, resolving to turn tail and run if this didn’t do anything. My club came down from up high in a double-handed overhead swing with all my power behind it and hit right at the place where I had broken another goblin collar bone. There were two distinct cracks as the club smashed its way through ribs and then the light on its eyes went out, at the same time my club was broken at the same time it exploded to dust. I managed to get a hold at the last goblin wooden club though.
[6/10 goblins defeated]
[Level up! Your level is now 2!]
Seemed like everything written on my character sheet really did something. When I’d swung the club I had felt a little bit better at it at level one than before, so there was an indication between that number and the real outcome.
I tried to keep a steady distance to between me and the rest of the goblins, switching from kicking, two handed, one handed, avoiding just barely enough that I wouldn’t get surrounded, also slow enough that I wouldn’t get tired. Before I knew, there was two long-sword goblins left behind. And my skills had become.
[Skill increased: Athletic lvl 3!]
[Skill increased: One-Handed Weapon Lvl 2!]
[Quest Completed!]
[Skill unlocked: Curse Magic!]
[Skill increased: Unarmed Combat Lvl 3!]
[Skill increased: Main Sense Lvl 1!]
[
[Skill increased: Two-Handed Weapon Lvl 2!]
[Level up! Your level is now 3!]
[Skill increased: Two-Handed Weapon Lvl 3!]
[Skill increased: Acrobatic Lvl 1!]
[Skill unlocked: Sixth Sense!]
Some of the condition was weird. As far as I knew, I was cursing when some of the goblin bloods were splashing on my clothes. And somehow I got curse magic. For Sixth Sense, it happened after I made a right guess about where the goblin would move next.
Before I knew it, the last two goblins didn’t seem to be very strong, though I’d thought I’d seen a few bursts of speed and power from them, like when the last boss was on the verge of losing, they would become bigger or something like that, but instead.
[Skill unlocked: Intimidation!]
“Giigiii!!”
“Gyi~!”
Oh... even though I didn’t anything to deserve that. And might be because they were feeling fear as I gradually approached, long-sword goblin A desperately grabbed its longsword, charged forward and tried to cut me in a panic. I wouldn’t say I was a fighting master but Its attack indeed had the skill to cut me somehow.
Normally, such a blow would hit me. But In my eyes, this goblin wasn’t that much difference than the other. As I judged the length of the sword, I moved my body to the left, and went into motion with my kick. With a dull sound, my leg felt the sense of its ribs breaking.
But as expected, one kick wouldn’t be enough. Once again, with another blow hitting the goblin’s face from my fist, and another strike as if I was doing soccer, t he goblin was blown away before exploding into dust.
Looking at the face of the last goblin before me, it scowled at me with hatred or maybe fear in its eyes and shrilled before it turned its back against me and ran away... diving to the panda shaped mirror.
“...What?”
It was weird enough to see floating words, knowing goblin existed, it got weirder when they exploded and now they entered a mirror.
Before I knew it, the other polices finally came to the call, aiding the two injured men. For me... as soon as I immediately realized I was covered in blood, I decided to run away.
[Skill unlocked: Stealth!]